


Three Hearts

by Torikour



Category: Invader Zim
Genre: Angst, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, M/M, ZaDr, ZaDr Week, dib/zim - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:53:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25470424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torikour/pseuds/Torikour
Summary: Dib and Zim are fighting as usual, but then Dib sees a perfect opportunity to finally disappear..He fakes his own death in order to start a new, fresh life out of state.The human was shocked to see the little alien come to his gravesite everyday, only now realizing that Zim actually cared about him.And missed him..(Angst, Fluff and Smut)
Relationships: Dib & Zim (Invader Zim), Dib/Zim (Invader Zim)
Comments: 46
Kudos: 236





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: This story has blood and injuries, depressive thoughts and suicide

"What's wrong with you?! Why won't you chase Zim?!" The Irken crossed his skinny arms, pouting as the Human walked out of the loud Hi Skool. 

It had been a very long day, since this week was the final week of Skool. Lots of tests, last-minute projects and extra credit work wore out all the students till the end.  
Zim however, didn't care. For the past couple of days, his human enemy seemed to have been very down and quiet. Even in their fights, Dib seemed less passionate. For the human, it became more like a job he didn't want to do when it came to dealing with Zim. Dib is human after all, and he is growing and changing. The whole world does! Everything and everyone on Earth... except Zim. The Irken had noticed over the years that Dib had become more relaxed and seemed less worried about Zim's plans. The Irken eventually got used to it, but every now and then he would pull out a rather serious method in which Dib genuinely got scared for his life. 

But nowadays, the flame that sparked behind his hazel eyes were now gone. 

The passion, motivation, and need to expose and stop the alien seemed to have disappeared. Yesterday, Dib didn't even so much as look at Zim and just dismissed him. Upset, the Irken decided to bring one of his own deadly creations to Skool today. His plan was to show it off to Dib and try to get the human to stop him like usual. Because without Dib to stop him.. Zim started to feel less motivated himself. But he would never admit it. So the Irken gave the human an angry glare, tapping his tiny foot as he stood before him. 

"DIB! Have you truly given up?! Are you giving the Earth to Zim?!" He yelled, and waited for the human's blank expression to change even slightly. 

But it didn't, and Dib just rolled his eyes. "Zim, why does it matter so much that I stop you? Without me around, you're going to easily invade Earth, right?" He said a little sarcastically. "So yeah, maybe I am giving up. Honestly whatever happens to Earth.. let it be. I'm done defending it. So just leave me alone, ok?" Dib pushed Zim aside, walking past him with a blank and maybe slightly angry look on his face. 

Zim frowned at first, but the sadness quickly turned in to anger. The Irken stomped over to Dib and grabbed his arm, yanking him back so that the human had to face him. Of course it was a bit of an effort since Zim was half the human's size. 

"So are you saying Zim is allowed to destroy this planet?! Even the humans?! Even your 'family'?!" He grinned, watching Dib clench his fists. The human didn't know what to feel about his dad, but he did care for him. And Gaz, she had become nicer to him throughout the years.. they were really the only people that somewhat appreciated him and love him. Dib couldn't imagine them being killed by Irkens.. but he never worried too much. His dad already had plans to start colonizing planets and was the smartest human on Earth. Gaz was just downright savage and strong, she could easily kill an Irken and snag their ship. Maybe even become a space pirate like in her games. 

But despite Gaz being nicer to him.. his dad was getting difficult to love. It was ok when he was younger, but now his dad seemed to be eager for Dib to find something he wanted to do that didn’t involve paranormal stuff. He wanted Dib to become an adult and put all the 'childish things' aside. The tension at home was getting worse and worse, and Dib having to explain why he couldn't do his homework or why he didn't get a project done was just embarrassing. If it were a few years ago, he would have told the truth and said that he was busy dealing with an alien.. but now he just had to lie. Destroying his persona in the process and making everybody think he's crazy and weirder than before. 

Dib was even being watched by the police now, since no thanks to Zim, he was the one that would always get caught and blamed. He was the one that had to pay for property damages and for the extra bandages for his arms. Dib being bigger made him an easier target for Zim, and so he usually always had at least five scars on his body from where the Irken's Pak legs have scraped him. 

"Hey! Dib! Zim is talking to you! DO NOT IGNORE ZIM!" The Irken yelled, moving his hand away from the human’s arm. Dib was quick to snap out of his thoughts. 

"Zim.." Dib sighed. "Do what you want with Earth, ok? Just leave me out of it." Dib turned once again and started walking away from the Skool property to get back to his home. 

The Irken growled loudly, running ahead and standing in front of Dib with his arms out, blocking his path. "NO. Zim won't leave you out of it! I'll make you watch as Earth is invaded by the Empire! Is that what you want?! Because it's going to happen if you don't destroy the device I have!" Zim grinned, not realizing that he wasn't even holding the device.. and couldn’t find it in his Pak either. Dib was however, now getting annoyed. 

His mind couldn’t help but wander off again. He kept on thinking about how much he hated his life- how he was tired of these repeating events. Chasing Zim, getting in trouble, and disappointing his dad. Dib knew he would never not be a disappointment to him, because he couldn’t live up to his dad’s standards and be who he wanted him to be. It was painful to wake up every morning, knowing that your own dad was disappointed in you, and that your alien enemy is waiting at Skool to fuck up your day. He hated all of it, and he needed a fresh start.

"Oh for fucks sake Zim! I'll probably be too dead to watch your stupid leaders take over Earth! And besides! You left that device lying around on your desk and I literally crushed it when you went to the bathroom during lunch!" Dib admitted, and Zim seemed taken back. Without some leverage, Dib would show no interest in the alien. "So, I'm telling you one more time. Just stay the fuck away from me. Ok?! God you're so annoying.." Dib shoved Zim aside with such a force Zim didn’t know the human was capable of and fell on to the ground.

This time, Zim didn't go after the human. 

——————————————  
The next day, Zim was able to recollect himself from yesterday's harsh rejection he got from Dib. The Irken figured- he had to make something super powerful, and super dangerous. Something that Dib just couldn't ignore! And it was probably one of the deadliest things Zim had ever made. Unfortunately for Zim, he made it in his lab, and couldn't get it out of his lab. The Irken now had to figure out how he could get Dib to come in to his house, and down to his base.

The whole Skool day was so long and boring. Zim however, kept his distance from the human and decided to focus on the task at hand. How would he get Dib to his house? Zim thought about stealing the human’s bag, but he had already tried that before, and it didn't work. He thought of all the possible ideas- even thought about using his Pak legs or knocking him out unconscious. But during the day, especially after Hi Skool, people were lurking around everywhere. Since the Skool now has way more kids, it was almost impossible to be alone when outside anymore. Not to mention Dib was now strong enough to crush his thin-metal Pak legs if he grabbed a hold of one of them. 

And before Zim knew it, Skool had ended. Unable to think of a way to get Dib’s interest, Zim just walked a few feet behind him. He watched as the human walked off Skool grounds, and into the parking lot.

"The parking lot?!" Zim's antenna's twitched under his wig, wanting to spring up. The Irken followed Dib and watched as he got in his navy-blue car. Zim had almost forgotten every Friday, Dib would go to his dad's lab to help out with experiments and conduct his own researches. The human hated it, but he went anyway because apparently his dad was paying him to be there. Thankfully for Zim, he now had a perfect plan in mind...

Dib started up his car, throwing his heavy backpack on the back seat, putting his seatbelt on securely and starting up the engine. He wasn't going to get another ticket for forgetting his seat belt. 

The human then checked his mirrors and backed out of the parking spot, then left the parking lot and started driving on the main road. Dib had gotten his license as soon as he turned 16, and now he had been driving for four years since. He originally wanted to drive so that it would be easier to chase Zim, and also so he could get to his part time job's quicker before he was fired from all of them no thanks to Zim. But now he just used it for grocery shopping or driving to his dad's lab. Sometimes he would even have to pick Gaz up from her friend’s house. But none of that mattered. Nothing mattered to him. His life was pointless. 

He was driving in silence for about ten minutes before he suddenly he felt something press against the right side of his forehead. Dib froze at first by instinct, and then glanced over at the figure that had a laser gun up against Dib. 

"Stupid Earth monkey! Not even locking your.. metal transportation-garbage!" Zim laughed and crawled over to the passenger seat. Dib sighed, relaxing a bit since it was only Zim. 

"..I thought I told you to leave me alone." Dib grumbled angrily, keeping his eyes on the road. Zim however, didn't care about what the human said. 

"You will do as Zim says! Understood?!" The Irken threatened him, hoping that he could get Dib to drive to his base. But the human didn't even seem the slightest bit scared of the alien laser gun pointed at him.

"..Zim.. I don't have time for this. Can't you just leave me alone for even a day?" The human complained, but that only gave Zim an idea. He retracted his empty laser gun back into his Pak. 

"Zim will promise to leave Dib alone for a day if he does what Zim asks!" He smiled, glancing over at the human with a smirk. Dib sighed of defeat and maybe relief too, finally taking interest. 

"Ok Zim. But you have to keep that promise-and make it two days!" Dib snapped back, and the Irken shrugged. "Sure whatever, just TURN HERE!" He yelled, and Dib rushed to turn the wheel and made a very sharp left turn. Zim nearly flew out of his seat, but only stumbled a bit. 

The next thirty minutes was nothing but Zim instructing Dib to make turns and go on and off highways- and it was about an hour in when Dib finally got tired of it all.  
"..Zim, where are we going?" The human asked, finally curious as to where the alien was taking them. The Irken put a hand under his own chin, thinking. 

"..hmm.. we were going to my base. It seems like the humans changed the roads a bit- STUPID Earth monkeys!" Zim kicked in his seat, and Dib face palmed. 

"Why didn't you just tell me?! I could have driven us there without getting to-" Dib put his window down and peeked out to get a better look. He looked around and had no idea where they were. All he knew was that it was getting pretty dark, and they were driving along a quiet road on the side of a cliff. "Hell I don't even know where we are! Thanks a lot Zim!" Dib growled, checking both ways before making a U turn in a split second. 

The Irken gasped as if he was offended. "Dib! Listen to ZIM!! I did not order you to turn around!!" Zim complained like an angry child, but Dib didn't care.

"No, Zim. Forget this, I'm going straight to my dad's lab to make less money than I usually would have made because of this mess you got us in." Dib was pissed, at least that's how Zim had seen it. 

"WHAT? YOU PROMISED!" Zim yelled, launching himself at the human. He clawed at the wheel, trying to turn it the opposite way. But Dib was stronger, even though it was still a struggle to fight Zim whilst on the road. "OBEY ZIM!!" The Irken shouted again, trying his best to gain control of the wheel as the car swayed along the road. 

And then the weirdest thing happened.

Dib sighed.

And let go.

Zim tugged the bottom of the wheel with such a force, making the car take a sharp turn. It went right through the rusty metal rails along the road and drove right off the cliff. 

"AHH!" Zim screamed, quickly using his Pak legs to steady himself as he floated for a brief second in mid-air. Zim didn't know what was going on and was freaking out- The car window was open on Dib's side. Without knowing why, the Irken grabbed Dib's arm and then used his Pak legs to launch himself out through the window. Zim held on tight to the human’s arm, and the Irken's Pak legs were so close to digging into the side-wall of the cliff-but Zim felt a force that pulled him down. 

The human had his seat belt on. 

Zim was pulled back towards the car, his body going right back in through the window as the force of them falling got stronger. The car was tipped on its right side as it fell, and Zim had no time to do anything as a loud crash was heard, and the world around him went black.

———————————

A loud ringing was heard, and Zim's eyes slowly started to open. Everything was blurry, the world seemed warm and he couldn't hear anything. The Irken felt hot liquid on his face and felt pain almost everywhere. He grunted as he managed to roll over on to his stomach, trying to push himself up off the ground with his shaking arms. 

It was dark, so very dark around him. He could see the dry dirt under himself, and the ripped black gloves on his hands started to become less of a blur. His head spinned as he finally managed to get himself to sit up, but he had to stay sitting for a moment with his eyes closed to calm down the dizziness. 

His head felt like he had been shattered in to a million pieces, and his senses started to come back and make everything feel worse than they already were. How long had it been? Zim asked himself as he opened his eyes and his vision fully returned, the ringing fading. Now he could actually hear things- like the crickets around them, the distant sound of sirens, a beeping from his Pak, and.. the crackling of fire? 

Zim noticed it was hotter than usual, and there was light in the dark forest casted by something behind him.. The Irken leaned against a nearby tree and willed himself up to stand. Standing was a very bad idea, as he started to feel dizzy again. However, Zim weakly managed to turn himself around to see the source of this light, and was horrified at the view. 

The car he was in just a few minutes ago- or it could have been hours ago- was burning up in flames. He noticed one of his contacts were broken and in the bushes, and his wig was burning in a pile of glass shards. Dib's bag was nowhere to be seen, but the Irken noticed something else...

He saw a body.

Zim rushed over to it, which was again, a huge mistake as he fell on to the ground. Unable to walk properly, he crawled over to the body. 

"..D..Dib?" The alien sat beside the human, still as ever. One of his Pak legs had seemed to have snapped off and stabbed Dib right in the middle, red blood staining his clothes. Not knowing how well human healing works- Zim thought that maybe if he removed it, Dib would surly heal. 

So the Irken grabbed the silver Pak leg and yanked it out of the human before tossing it somewhere in the forest. "Dib! Wake up you stupid human! Look what happened!" Zim growled, not knowing he was speaking to a corpse. 

"Stop sleeping! Get up!" He shook the human, realising how cold and stiff he was. The red blood pouring out of Dib was getting worse because Zim had yanked out the Pak leg. The Irken shook him again, and again. 

"DIB! THIS ISNT FUNNY!" He yelled, and eventually stopped shaking him. Only then did Zim realise that Dib's chest was not rising up and down like it usually did. And he couldn't feel the thumping of the humans heart- which Zim had felt before when they were fighting intensely. But this was different.. not only was the human not breathing, and heart not moving, but Zim saw that the human's bones seemed to be peeking out and broken in many places. 

"Dib."

Zim finally looked at the human's face, noticing the closed eyes and skin paling more and more. There was also a shard of glass, piercing right through the back of his neck. 

"..W..Well, if you don’t wake up it means ZIM WINS!" He smiled, because it was true and maybe.. just maybe it would make the human wake up. Zim didn't know, but he waited in silence for a few minutes. A blank expression on his face- the Irken didn't know what to feel. 

So then, he started laughing, and the laughing got louder until he was victoriously laughing like the evil alien he was- through tears he didn’t notice. The Irken stood up, smiling. "Seems like I've won Dib! Without you in my way, Earth will finally be MINE!! It's a shame you won't be able to witness my great VICTORY!" Zim shouted, starting to feel a little better, but realized something wet traveling down his face and dropping on to the ground beneath him, making little wet spots on the dry dirt. 

Zim moved his hand up to his own cheek, touching the wet liquid and then moving it away from his face to examine what it was. "..huh?" Zim was confused, but more and more of his tears started coming out of his eyes. 

"S..STOP IT!" Zim wiped his face with his black gloves, only now realizing how torn up they were, just like the rest of his clothing. "Z..ZIM IS HAPPY! ZIM WON!" He laughed, trying to convince himself. But tears still pouring down his face until- 

He started to hear how close the sirens sounded now and heard voices of people. A distant bright light- probably a flashlight- moved around in the dark forest, trying to find something to shine upon. The Irken saw humans approaching and ran as fast as his little legs could take him. He ran further and further away from the crash-sight, the sounds becoming distant and light fading away. 

Zim suddenly came to a halt, realizing if he dare take another step, he would have gone straight into a lake. His antenna perked up in alert to what the alien saw.. his own reflection in the water. The Irken had one contact lense still in his eye and also had a horrible gash on his forehead, pink blood leaking from it. Zim didn't hear it until now, but there were small clicking noises in his Pak- probably working to fix all of the Irken's injuries. The beeping had thankfully stopped though. Zim would have been annoyed at the sound if it had continued. 

Zim now had taken a few steps away from the shimmering lake, sitting down against a tree. He sent a silent command to his Pak that pulled out something that looked like a walkie-talkie, or phone. 

"Gir!" Zim spoke into it. "Come and retrieve your master! And then we shall celebrate! ZIM HAS WON!" He laughed, and so did Gir. 

"YAYYYYY OKIE!" The robot replied, and Zim waited in silence for his ride home.

———————————

Once Gir was here, Zim talked about ideas for his next plans to invade Earth with the robot the whole way home, not aware that he was trying to distract himself from what happened.  
Thankfully Zim was able to upgrade Gir's navigation system and made sure that the robot couldn't remove it, so they got home quite easily. Once home, the little robot leapt on to the couch happily and turned on the T.V to watch his cartoons. Zim on the other hand threw off his one contact lens and walked over to the trashcan. 

"Gir! I will be in the lab, healing for a bit. Then I will announce my GREAT PLAN to take over the Earth!! It's bound to succeed now that the Dib isn't here!! And then we shall celebrate with TACOS!" Zim exclaimed, and Gir threw his little arms in the air with joy. "TACOOS!!!"

Zim made his way to his lab, laying down on the Irken medical table in the center on his side.

For the first time in a while, Zim slept. It sped up the healing process and helped his Pak repair itself as well as its host. The Irken wasn't used to sleeping, so he wasn't used to the concept of dreams ether. In his sleep, he dreamt of being in Skool with Dib. The two of them were fighting over who's science project was better, and in the dream, Zim was winning. This was more like a replay of a memory than a dream, except near the end of the dream- Dib had collapsed on to the ground face first. 

"What's wrong human?! I thought we were still arguing!!" Zim looked down at Dib, who was still and silent. 

"ANSWER ZIM!" The Irken knelt down and turned the human over, shrieking as he scrambled away. There was red blood pouring out of his eyes and nose, cuts that Zim didn't notice before started to show themselves all over the human's body. 

The Irken jerked up to a sitting position on the medial table in his lab, breathing heavily and looking around with a confused look on his face. "C..Computer! What was that?! What happened?!" Zim demanded an answer, and the computer snickered slightly. 

"It's.. called a dream, master. It's not real." It said as Zim walked over to his closet filled with the same exact invader clothes he always wore. 

"Dream? ZIM NEEDS NO DREAMS!" He yelled and quickly got dressed, and then checked himself in the mirror to see if the injury on his head had healed.  
The computer seemed to notice and added "All physical injuries and Pak damages have been healed. Your Pak is currently working on fixing your mental state." The computer said in plainly. 

"Eh? Whatever! Zim has a new plan to plan!" The Irken smiled and went over to his large screen computer and started to think of what he could possibly do.

But he couldn’t think of anything.

It mattered not, because he was confident an idea would come to him eventually.

It was about two hours later Zim emerged from his Lab happily. "GIR! I have a plan!! A GREAT PLAN! HAHAHA!" Zim lied and laughed but was quickly interrupted.

"MASTER! IT MARY! HE ON T.V!!" Gir pointed to the T.V with a happy smile. his antenna springing up straight and fully alert. 

"The Dib?? He's back?!" Zim walked over to the T.V, sitting down next to Gir on the couch. There was a news lady on the screen, and then a photo of Dib on the top right corner. 

"Around 9pm yesterday, a horrific car accident was discovered near route 628. One identified body has been found, and investigators claim there could have been another person in the car, but are still unsure. The casualty has brought sadness around the globe to many of our well-known scientists, since this boy was none other than Professor Membrane's son. The Professor's friends and families are all devastated to hear the news and are sending their prayers out to the affected family." The woman paused, and then continued. "The Membrane family has refused to speak to anyone about the matter, and a funeral has been announced to take place soon. Police are still trying to map out the cause of this car crash, and as of now the incident has been labelled as a suicide. We have Robert with us reporting live from the scene- Robert, what exactly do you think happened?" The lady asked, and the screen changed to show a news reporter standing a few feet away from the crashed car. There was caution tape all over the area, and little flags to pin-point evidence. 

"Good morning Kate, so from what I've been hearing- there is no reason to suspect that this wasn't a suicide. Dib’s medical records state that he had been on antidepressants for a while now, and in his car we found what seems to be remains of various drugs. In his younger years, the boy did suffer from a mental condition which was said to have disappeared over the course of time." The news reporter walked closer to the car. "But what confuses the investigators are these large scratch marks on the metal. They almost seem like bear-claw marks, and even some parts of the passenger seat have been torn. Though it is difficult to distinguish since there are multiple pieces of glass and metal scattered all around here. It's hard to tell, but investigators say that no metal or glass could have caused these marks." Robert said as the screen switched back to Kate. 

"Thank you for the information, we do hope this mystery gets solved so that the Membrane family will have some disclosure, and Dib Membrane can rest in peace. We are now moving on to a story about a bank robbery-"

Zim had turned the T.V off, not knowing how hard he was holding the remote, it event started to crush in his grip. Gir frowned, looking at the remote. 

"YOU BREAKIN IT! WHYYY!" The robot cried out, but Zim remained silent. His Pak started to make clicking noises again, but this time they seemed a bit louder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked the story, comments are always appreciated and let me know readers are still active!


	2. Tug of War

Zim tapped his finger on the table, trying to think of a new plan. He still had no ideas, and his Pak was still making those annoying clicking sounds. 

“Computer! What is this noise coming from my Pak?!” Zim yelled as the sun shined through the window- day two since his arch nemesis was defeated. 

“That would be your emotion regulator. It is trying to block out specific defective behaviours, but the one in your Pak seems to be broken.” It responded plainly with its usual deep monotone voice. 

Zim hopped off of the chair he was sitting on, sighing. “Then I guess I’ll just have to fix it myself!” He stated and began walking over to the trash can with confidence. 

“You can’t. Your Pak was made with that defect, fixing it would require high value supplies from Irk.” And just like that, the words made Zim stop in his tracks.

“My Pak is FLAWLESS! And has been working just fine since the day I was born!” He snapped like a stubborn child. “I didn’t need to fix it anyway! Because there is nothing to fix!” He turned and headed to the living room instead, hopping on to the couch and sighing. 

What was this feeling? 

Zim felt like something was missing, like he had lost a piece of his life. Something wasn’t right, and he refused to believe it was because of Dib’s absence. He should be happy, because any normal Irken would be happy if their arch nemesis was gone for good. Then they can fully focus on their mission and please their Tallests. Zim was too confused, not knowing if he was mad, sad or happy. Because right now, he felt like he was feeling any of those. 

But no invader should feel any emotions in the first place! So Zim shook his head again, hitting himself and telling himself to stop thinking about it. 

Then suddenly, the door to his home swung open so violently and loudly. 

Zim’s antenna perked up, and for a brief moment, he thought it was Dib. He felt himself get excited and feel that adrenaline he loved to feel spark in his veins- but it lasted only a second. He found himself being disappointed as he got off the couch and took a closer look at the figure marching up to him. 

“You.” 

Gaz grumbled, stomping up to him and punching him right in the face with all her strength. Something cracked, and Zim went flying back. Pink blood dripped from the right side of his face, and his vision started to blur in his right eye as well. 

“You did this.” Her voice trembled, as if she was crying as well as being angry. “You killed him.” Her voice sounded like one of a demon from the depths of hell. 

“I did not kill the Dib!” Zim forced himself to stand, his head hurting from the punch. 

“Fucking bullshit.” The purple haired human threw another punch, knocking Zim over again.  
She then grabbed the front of his hot pink uniform, lifting her fist to give him another punch. 

Zim didn’t dare to fight back, or even use his computer to fight. Gaz was too powerful, and the Irken truly feared her. No alien weapon or technology could take her down. Nothing could.  
He could now see the tears in her eyes- her expression was pure rage, and yet liquid was pouring from her hazel eyes. Zim didn’t understand how humans could have two emotions at once. He actually barely understood emotion to begin with. 

“Dib was the one that let go of the wheel! We were merely fighting and he just-“ He couldn’t finish as he felt yet another punch. At this point, he felt like he was going to pass out from the sheer impact of it.

“That doesn’t explain why one of your Pak legs pierced through his body.” Her voice trembled again. She remembered going to the crash sight, and seeing all the little flags and tapes around the scene. Marking clues and other things that may backup the theory of Dib commuting suicide. But she remembered it clearly. It was labelled as ‘a piece of metal from the car’ and had Dib’s blood all over it. One of the investigators that took a look at his body said that it had stabbed him right in the centre. 

Gaz knew it was no piece of metal. That thing was very clearly a Pak leg.

“I tried to save-“ Zim hesitated, recalling those moments with Dib in the car. He had in fact, without thinking, attempted to save Dib on instinct. Why would he save his enemy? Why did he let himself be dragged down to crash due to the attempt in trying to save them both? He could have easily escaped himself- used his Pak legs and hopped out the window. But he had grabbed Dib’s arm. He had tried to save him. 

“..I deployed my Pak legs to stop us from falling.” It was true, and as much as Zim wanted to say ‘to stop me from falling’ he knew saying that may make himself feel better- but in return, he would probably be killed by Gaz. 

“And why the fuck should I believe you?! Do you even feel anything?! You FUCKING KILLED MY BROTHER! You stupid piece of space shit-“ She dropped him and kicked him hard. “Give me one good reason not to strangle you right now. Or drag you out and expose you- just like my brother always wanted.” She sniffed, towering over Zim. 

There was a brief moment of silence before Zim spoke again.

“I..I didn’t want this to happen..” Zim pushed himself up, unable to contain his own tears that he didn’t even realise he had been holding back. “Dib wasn’t supposed to die.” He choked out, body trembling from the harsh confession which he kept telling himself was just an act to save himself from Gaz. 

It’s not real. He didn’t actually feel like this. This was just for survival. 

But Dib really wasn’t supposed to die. And Zim really didn’t want him to die like this. He wasn’t even sure if he ever wanted him to die in the first place- his enemy was supposed to see his victory! And.. keep him company. Zim suddenly began to feel so alone as everything started to sink in properly. 

“No he fucking wasn’t!” She kicked Zim again, still angry at him and just needing to do something to unleash her rage. “You ruined his life! You came to this shit hole of a planet and took up all of his childhood- he didn’t get to have friends, or go to parties- all because of YOU!” She kicked him hard, making the Irken cough out pink blood. 

“And eventually you became the death of him.” She cried, stepping away from the beaten up alien.  
“I was just beginning to learn how to be a better sister for him. God- I spent so much time pushing him around and.. didn’t even get to fucking say sorry.” She clenched her fists, saddened by the loss. 

She was never one to get so emotional, but this was the last thing she had expected to happen. She always knew Dib would spring back to life and fight Zim like always. Then he would get beaten up, heal, and fight again. She never stopped to think of the possibility that one day, he could really get hurt. And die. 

“If you show up at his funeral, I’ll kill you. I’ll take your body to whatever sick organisation there is and do what Dib always wanted to do. Prove to the world that aliens are real.” She spat at him. “I don’t want to see your face ever again.” Gaz growled before turning on her heel and leaving the house. She slammed the door shut, making Zim flinch at the sudden loud sound.

The Irken laid there for a moment, unable to get up. He felt like everything was broken- every bone, organ, and maybe his Pak too. He had never seen Gaz that angry, or sad. He didn’t understand- why was he being blamed? 

It was his fault.

Zim sat up, trying to wipe away the blood. 

He was the one that got them lost. He was the one that tried to grab the wheel. His Pak was the thing that stabbed him and killed him. So it was his fault- Gaz was right.  
He thought he would feel proud, and even some form of accomplishment. “The Dib is gone! Zim has won!” He said out loud to himself in his cracked voice. “Victory for-“ he coughed again, his mouth dripping fluids that should not be dripping from his mouth. 

His words were lies, he could feel it- but he didn’t want to admit anything. He couldn’t, otherwise it would mean he was weak and defective. He needed to be happy, strong and victorious. Not sad, depressed and guilty. 

Zim’s emotions fought against each other. The clicking sounds of his Pak got louder.

—————————— 

It took two whole days of being unconscious for his body to focus on completely healing itself. Zim actually wanted to do this anyway, since feeling all those conflicting things had made him tired. 

But once he woke up, he didn’t feel any better. 

What could he do to feel better? 

He didn’t feel like coming up with a plan. What was the point if Dib wasn’t around? It wasn’t fun, or exciting. He needed to think of something to keep himself far away from the negative thoughts- but how? 

“My Tallests!” 

Zim jumped off the medical table in a hurry. It had been a good few weeks since Zim last called them. Surly seeing them will remind him of his true purpose and the importance of his mission. He was made to serve them, and maybe seeing them would be encouraging. 

He ran to the large monitor in his main lab room, typing away and calling the massive. Usually it took ten or so calls to get the Tallests to pick up, and Zim did exactly that. 

“URGH WHAT DO YOU WANT ZIM?!” Red yelled as the screen turned on. 

“My Tallests! I would like to inform you of my success!” He smiled, hoping that his Tallests would be proud if him- and maybe tell him he was the best invader. Because that’s all he had wanted to hear- he was the only one that ever said it, and it would mean a lot to him if his leaders told him directly. 

“How can a defective succeed?” Purple asked the other Tallest as he munched away on donuts. 

Zim pretended not to hear that. 

“They don’t.” Red turned his attention back to Zim. “But it would be funny to know what he’s talking about! Zim, what is your.. success?” Both Tallests held in chuckles and hid their smiles. They both already had a feeling it was going to be something stupid and funny. 

“I won against the Dib! My arch nemesis is now.. expired. Zim has won! And with Dib gone, taking over Earth should be much easier my Tallests!” Zim said as he fixed his posture, smiling. 

“Expired? You mean dead?” Purple tilted his head to the side. 

“Yes.. he is- dead.” Zim mumbled a little, but the Tallests heard. 

“What? Aw I kinda like that human.” Red complained, looking over at his companion who nodded. 

“Yeah! He was also tall!” Purple shook his head. “Don’t you think it is.. bad for a shorter to kill a taller? Isn’t that punishable by death?” The Tallest smirked in a cocky way, maybe finally having an excuse to officially kill Zim off. 

“Oh Zim is already on the execution list! Just- I already told you. I don’t want to bring him back here.” Red rolled his eyes.

“I guess.” Purple shrugged. “But I liked that alien. He was funny. And he always hurt Zim for us!” He laughed, and the other laughed as well. 

“Yes. I guess things won’t be so entertaining now that he is gone. Since most of Zim’s hilarious stories were about him.” Red looked over at the screen. “Zim, you have disappointed us by killing that alien!” 

“Yeah!” Purple added, stuffing his mouth with more donuts.

“It was fun while it lasted! But you are no use to us now. So we will be blocking you from Irk’s system.” Red casually said whilst Zim went pale. 

“But- only banished Irkens are taken off the system! I am your best invader-“ Zim was cut off. 

“Then consider yourself banished. Stay on Earth, and don’t come near Irken territory. Or us. Definitely not us.” Red spoke carelessly.

“Or we will shoot! And make you explode!” The Purple Tallest said excitedly. 

“This- must be some mistake! I..I am very close to invading Earth!” Zim began to tremble. 

“Are you saying we are wrong?” Red narrowed his eyes. 

“N..no. My Tallests are always right.” Zim responded like how any Irken would. 

“So it is not a mistake. If anything is a mistake, it’s you!” Red laughed alongside Purple. 

“Yeah! You weren’t even supposed to be born!“ Purple pointed a finger at the small Irken. 

“If you want to please us Zim, then stay on Earth and never leave. That will be all.” Red ended the call, sighing of relief.  
“Finally, Zim is gone!” He yelled happily, and every Irken in the room cheered. "Why didn't we do this earlier? Ha!"

“We should have a huge party!” Purple perked up, cheering along. 

Back on Earth, Zim sat behind a dark screen. Wanting to say something to himself, and wanting to tell himself that it was just a joke. His Tallests were just messing with him! They have yet to see that he is the greatest invader! 

But what could he do? Usually he would go back to scheming, and then annoy the hell out of Dib. What could he do now that his mind was blank, and Dib was no longer here? He was the one that made Zim feel like an invader, and the human treated him like an actual invader as well. But that human was dead.

Zim fell on his knees, tears began to stream down his face. 

“..I’m not defective. I will take over Earth.” He cried, not sure how much longer he could keep lying to himself now that his only coping skill was gone. 

——————————

Zim didn’t dress up nicely, but he tried to follow through the human tradition of respecting the deseased. He thought that maybe if he did this- he would feel some form of content. Maybe he would feel better, and maybe seeing his work and seeing his victory in a specific way would boost up his self esteem. 

But he needed to respect his enemy. Dib was a good nemesis, and Zim did respect him to a certain level. He was the only intelligent human, and the only human that worked day and night to save his planet. Zim would have done the same if an invader had come to Irk. 

The Irken walked past the pointy black metal gates, and began walking up the path leading through the graveyard. 

There were many stones, and many engraved names to his left and right. He had felt this disturbing feeling before when he had to walk through a bunch of his fallen fellow soldiers. Except he didn’t care about them at all, he was just disgusted and uneasy. Knowing that there were decaying bodies all around him. 

But Dib was different. 

He kept walking, eventually the simple grave stones changed to more posh and stylish gravestones. And from there, the gravestones only got better. 

It took him a while, but he eventually found Dib’s. Sitting a top a slight hill on its own. It was a very pretty gravestone, with decorations and countless amounts of flowers all around it. There were full bouquets of followers, and all looked so expensive and fake. But they were not fake, Zim could tell by the scent of the flowers. 

He felt like maybe he should have brought more flowers- because all he had now was a little flower that had been growing on his front yard. He had plucked it, and didn’t even stop to consider it may not be worthy.  
But it mattered not- because it was Dib. Zim didn’t want to spend money on his enemy! Yet alone, on flowers that would be left outside to die. It was a complete waste. 

Zim looked at the flower he was holding with his fake purple eyes, and then back at the gravestone. Seeing Dib’s name felt so surreal, and just.. odd. 

“Dib.” Zim cleared just throat. “I don’t know why I am doing this- but I guess it is because.. you were an.. adequate enemy.” He looked away stubbornly. “You were always stopping my plans, and I must admit that for a human.. your efforts were.. impressive.” He said uneasily, feeling weird for saying so many compliments about his enemy. 

“You were very.. intelligent for a human. And.. I guess I am sorry.” Zim cringed, it was even more difficult for him to apologise. “Sorry that you had to die so pathetically!” He yelled with a frown. “I thought you would be stronger than this! My enemy shouldn’t be stupid enough to just let themselves die! You did this!” His voice cracked again. 

He lifted his hand to throw the flower down, but stopped. He knew he was getting angry over nothing. What was his anger going to do now? There was no Dib around time complain about his obnoxious rants and yelling. What was the point? 

He brought his hand down, his eyes a little watery. But not enough to produce any tears. 

“..But I guess it is partially.. my fault to.” He sighed, kneeling down and placing the little flower above the patch of raised dirt by the gravestone. “As humans say- I hope you rest in peace..” Even though he doubted Dib could rest in peace, since when he died, Zim had still been trying to take over Earth. 

He gave up on that after realizing he truly was banished. Even his Voot wasn’t responding to him since his Pak was no longer in Irk’s system, and the Voot could only be piloted by an Irken soldier. All he had was Gir, and his computer- who unfortunately only has access to human internet now.

“I know you can’t hear me- and me speaking to you is just.. futile.” He sighed again. “I have no idea what happens to humans when they.. expire. I know you believed in ghosts- so if you are a ghost, I hope you can hear this.” Zim stood up. “I’m not taking over Earth anymore. So- you better rest in peace Dib-ghost!” He raised his voice, stepping away from the gravestone. 

“Zim shall leave now! Maybe I will come back again.. but- you are nothing but a corpse now.. And it feels like I am talking to myself-“

He was talking to himself. 

So the Irken left, feeling a little better now that he somewhat resolved things with Dib. At least it felt that way for now, and he hoped to continue feeling better. He had no idea what he was going to do, or why he was even breathing. An Irken’s purpose is to serve the Empire.. and without it, he felt hopeless. 

———————————

The next day wasn’t as good as Zim had suspected it to be. 

One whole week passed since Dib’s death. The first day, Zim was happy. The second, he was beat up by Gaz. The two days after were spent healing, sleeping and thinking. On the fifth day, he was banished by his Tallests. And on the sixth day, Zim went to the gravesite to give Dib a flower. Today was the seventh day, and Zim still had to figure out what he was now going to do from here. 

But all he was really capable of at the moment was laying down, watching T.V, and eating. It distracted him from unwanted emotions, and sure it made him feel empty inside- but at least he didn’t feel the pain of sadness in his chest. 

“MASTER!!” Gir pounced on the Irken. 

“What is it Gir? Can’t you see I am in the middle of watching a very important documentary about.. penguins..?” He shrugged a little. 

“Where is Mary? IT’S HIS BIRTHDAY SOON AND I GUNNA THROW HIM A SURPRISE PARTY!” Gir said as he took out a confetti cannon from his head and shot confetti everywhere. Zim swatted it away, slightly annoyed.

“I already told you. Dib is dead. He’s never coming back. It’s all.. all over.” He gulped, trying so hard to not think about it and be in slight denial. Even though he knew it was very much real. 

“Never?” Gir frowned.

“Never ever.” Zim frowned as well. 

“He at skool?” The robot asked, clearly not understanding what death meant. And Zim really didn’t feel like explaining it either. 

“No, he’s not at skool-“ Zim paused, sitting up. “I forgot about skool..” It had completely left his mind, and he only had a few days to catch up on a week’s worth of work if he wanted to graduate.  
But he desperately needed something to do. And he desperately wanted to accomplish something- anything. Graduating Hi Skool would mean he succeeded in his mission to endure human education, and that was a good thing, right? 

He decided that he wanted to graduate. And he wanted to get that diploma, and wanted to feel some form of victory and pride in himself. He wanted to feel like despite being a defect, he was at least able to successfully complete one mission. And getting this diploma would mean that he could get a job! 

Irkens were made to work. Without work, Zim felt like nothing. That’s what had been missing! He probably wasn’t sad about Dib, but rather feeling empty because he no longer had a mission to take over Earth for his Tallests. He didn’t have a job, or anyone to work for.  
Surly he could find another new job, and start working with passion to serve whatever human decides to hire him. Working for a human wasn’t something Zim was too sure of, but what choice did he have? He needed to work. He needed a distraction that would last a lifetime, because Skool is something that has a limited time. But a job? Zim could work for as long as he wanted if he didn’t get fired. 

“Gir! Clean up the mess! Computer, prepare the cleansing chalk!” Zim hopped off the couch, dusting his dirty uniform off. “I have a mission to complete!” He smiled, antenna perking up for the first time in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked the story, comments are always appreciated and let me know readers are still active!


	3. Little Treasures

He had never felt so nervous in his life- why were they staring? Why were they quiet? Why weren’t they talking to him? Zim kept mentally asking himself those questions as he walked through the tense hallways to get to his first class. It was as if all conversations would come to a halt when anyone saw him, and as he walked past, he could hear the faint sound of whispers behind him. 

Needless to say, it began to annoy him. 

He snapped around and stomped up to one of the bigger guys, pointing a gloved finger at him.  
“I DEMAND to know why everyone is acting weird! TELL ME!” Zim yelled at the top of his lungs, grabbing the attention of the other people in the hallway. 

As much as the guy wanted to punch Zim, he didn’t. “Almost everyone in the skool knows his close you were to Dib- I think none of us really expected you to come back.” The guy sounded empathetic, but Zim mistook it as pity. 

“I was NOT close to the Dib! We are-were enemies!” Zim crossed his arms. “Did you really think the lack of the Dib’s presence would stop me from completing Hi Skool?!” He growled, narrowing his fake purple eyes. 

“Kinda? I’m sure that’s what everyone else thought. But- take it easy if you decide to stay. I’m sure a lot of people would be.. understanding.” The guy fixed the backpack on his shoulders and walked away as the bell rang. Everyone else scattered about to hurry off into their own classrooms. 

Zim let the guy go and kept his gaze down. He didn’t want to meet anyone’s eyes, and he knew people were staring. He could feel it.  
He continued to keep his head low as he walked into the classroom, going to his seat quietly. 

He failed to acknowledge how different skool felt without his nemesis. It wasn’t exciting, and he felt like skool just wasn’t skool anymore without Dib. But he didn’t want to let that stop him from finishing his last year here.

Everything seemed to be going normally during the first class, and nobody really brought up Dib. The teacher was too afraid to say ‘Sorry for your loss’ since she didn’t want to remind Zim of such thing. But at the same time, she could see Zim looking at Dib’s empty desk every now and then. Looking at the flowers placed on it and noticing how clean the desk looked. 

It was his homeroom desk, and also the desk he sat at for all the classes he had in this room. Which was four out of six. Zim found himself missing the sensation of that piercing glare on his back. Knowing that Dib was watching his every move, and knowing he had all his attention- was both a horrible and great feeling. 

Zim didn’t feel that anymore, and things just weren’t the same. Which was making not just himself but everyone else around him act differently as well. 

When the bell rang for the next class, Zim did what any other student would do if they missed a week of skool. He walked up to the teacher at the end of class when all the students were out of the room, and was going to ask for his extra work. Because he was positive he could get it done all in one go if he didn’t take a break or sleep. Irkens didn’t need sleep anyway.

“Zim.” The blond haired teacher said with a smile. “Don’t worry about the missed work. You are actually doing really well in this class, and you currently have a B+ for the class which is pretty good.” 

The Irken was conflicted, because if he didn’t have homework, he wouldn’t have a distraction. But then again, it did sound nicer to watch T.V and roll around after skool than do homework. 

“I uh.. also don’t know if you would be open to taking Dib’s stuff back to his home? Gaz’s things as well would help. I’ve tried to contact Membrane, but it seems like he is busy.” She said, assuming Zim was close to the family. 

The Irken thought for a moment before coming up with an answer.

“..Fine. Zim will do it.” He looked down. “At the end of the day.” He added before leaving to get to his next class. He knew Dib’s desk probably had something's in it, as well as his locker. Thankfully Zim knew Dib’s passcode for his locker, just like how the human had known his passcode to his locker. Zim wondered if Dib had broken in there when he wasn’t looking again and planted a glitter bomb- the human knew how glitter irritated Zim’s antenna and eyes. And also knew how well it stuck to his skin, and clothes. It was annoying whenever he had to walk around all day with shimmering, sparkling bits of paper stuck to his body. But now, he felt like he wouldn’t mind something like that. 

Most of the morning had been awkward. Students would stare at him, but avoid him at the same time. Whenever Zim caught someone staring, they would look away in a hurry. Some people still whispered, others just staid quiet and didn’t interact with him at all. But apart from that, things were normal. Zim had his lessons- teachers kept telling him to not worry about the extra work- and he would go to the next class. All of them seemed to pity Zim, and he didn’t know if he was happy or mad about it. 

But when lunch came around, people finally began to talk to him. Zim was sat at the usual empty table in the corner- sometimes Dib would sit across from him. Other times, Dib sat with Gaz on the table behind him and just stare and rant about him loudly. 

“..hey, Zim?” 

A group three of girls approached his table. Zim shifted a little in his seat, eyeing his untouched tray of food. 

“Can we sit here?” The brunette smiled. 

“Zim doesn't care.” Zim waved a hand carelessly as the three girls sat across from him. Which was a good thing since Zim always felt uncomfortable when people sat right next to him. Especially people he didn’t know. 

“I’m sorry about what happened.. we all are.” The brunette spoke again in a soft voice. 

“We know how close you were to Dib, and.. it must be hard.” The girl with dyed green hair looked away nervously. 

“So, we were wondering if you wanted to hang out with us till the end of Hi Skool? Like, till summer?“ The last short haired girl said with a half smile, as if she was unsure. 

The whole group of three girls all thought Zim must have been lonely now that Dib was gone. They knew that Zim’s parents died- or that’s what Zim said when his robot parents broke beyond repair- and that all he had was his dog, and Dib. 

“I do not need your pity!” The alien snapped, not sure of how to react to this sudden kindness. “Zim is fine! Nothing is hard for Zim!” The Irken abruptly stood up. The mention of Dib hit him harder that he had expected it to, and he began to feel even more out of place now that the only being in the world who cared about him to an extent-was gone. 

The only human that knew he was an alien. 

His chest ached all the sudden, and he forced himself to run out the cafeteria. He was too overwhelmed with.. emotion. But only defectives feel such intense emotions like this- 

“I’m not a defective!” He yelled to himself as he slammed a fist in to a nearby locker. 

His Pak kept making clicking sounds as it tried to calm its host down. But it seemed to be struggling, and Zim was only getting more agitated as he listened.  
The Irken went to one of the quieter areas of the skool- the empty space under the stairs. He leaned against the wall, hugging himself and trying to convince himself that everything was ok. Everything was normal. He was victorious, he is happy. 

The loud bell ringing right above Zim seemed to snap him out of his dazed state. His antenna hurt from the sheer sting of the sound, but thankfully the wig helped muffle out some of it. And as students began flowing through the hallways, Zim ventured through and made his way to his next class. 

——————————

It was the end of the skool day now, and Zim waited until the students- and even the teacher- left the homeroom to get his enemy’s belongings. He had been pretending to be working on homework, when in reality he was subconsciously drawing a crapy picture of a stick-figure Dib.

He got up, crumbling up the loose paper and tossing it in the trash. Then he turned around, taking step by step, and getting closer to the dreaded desk.  
It was just a silly old desk, and yet it didn’t feel right. White flowers rest atop it, and even on the seat. It was just weird knowing that nobody was probably going to sit here till the fall when the new batch of students came in. 

Zim would thankfully be out of skool by that time. 

He knelt down and reached in under the desk, his hand feeling three spiral notebooks and a packet of gummy worms. He waved his hand around inside one more time to make sure he hadn’t missed anything, and then stood up to take a look at his findings. 

He put the packet of gummy worms in his Pak, deciding to save them for later. Since it wasn’t like Dib was going to eat them.. 

Zim shook his head, glancing over the books. One was his history notebook, and the other was his English notebook. The last was his science notebook, the only notebook that Dib would leave mostly blank since he knew almost everything there was to know. So instead of taking notes during science class, he would doodle. 

As tempted as he was to look through the notebooks, he heard the teacher return to the room. 

“Thank you again, for taking Dib’s things to his family.” She smiled, and Zim looked away. 

“It is nothing but a simple task!” He put all the notebooks under his arm and held them firmly before leaving the room. He now had to go to Dib’s locker, which usually was filled to the brim with Zim’s destroyed inventions that he took with him to skool. He also probably had an extra black lab coat in there too, since his fights with Zim always made the one he wore get battered up, ripped and even burnt. Incinerated too.  
The Irken smiled to himself at the memory of stealing the black lab coat. It had been so funny how upset Dib had gotten over a simple coat, and Zim purposely wore it all day and made fun of Dib. And whenever he had tried to grab it from the alien, the Irken would use his speed to get away whilst throwing insults. 

Zim got to the rusty metal locker, entering the passcode with ease and opening it up. 

As suspected, Zim saw bits and pieces of his alien tech. A half empty plastic water bottle, deodorant, spare glasses, a few textbooks, a pencil case, and an extra blue shirt. 

Right- it was summer, and Dib usually didn’t wear the black lab coat in the summer on super hot days. Which left his shirt exposed to their harsh battles. The lab coat usually took the damage, but in the summer, it was the shirt. No fabric was safe from the threat of Zim’s claws-  
Dib was smart to have an extra stored in here. Zim found himself admiring how intelligent his enemy had been for a human.. 

He saw an empty plastic bag underneath everything- seemed like a plastic bag from the nearby drugstore. Dib always used to get those colourful chocolate things from there as a snack- something about M’s and M.. Zim couldn’t remember, but they had been good. 

The Irken put the notebooks down on the floor briefly before putting all of the scrap bits of irken-tech in the plastic bag. All the while trying not to think too much about everything and simply focus on his mission to take these to the Membrane household.  
He left the text books, since they were the skool's and were borrowed. So he took the water bottle -probably used to hurt Zim instead for drinking- the glasses, shirt, deodorant and pencil case and also put them in the plastic bag. 

Once that was sorted, he took one last look at the locker. 

It hurt to know that he would never be opening it again, because he didn’t have the need to to set up pranks for Dib. Seeing his angry face first thing in the morning had always been funny, but now he would never see that face again..

Zim frowned and hastily closed the locker, picked up the notebooks before fast walking out the door with everything. His mind had been completely focused on Dib, and he completely forgot about Gaz’s belongings. But honestly, he wasn’t so fond of handling her belongings in the first place. 

He kept walking, trying to focus on the path ahead rather than then thoughts in his head. But it was difficult when the world seemed so quiet.. and so.. uneventful. 

It didn’t take long for him to reach Dib’s house. And one look at the place made Zim want to leave. 

Dib should be here. Zim would always knock on the door, or sneak in through the window, and confront the human. He was usually in his bed, or watching T.V, and always got annoyed when Zim burst in to his home. But that human Zim loved to annoy so much wasn't here- he wasn't anywhere in this world anymore. 

It almost seemed nostalgic- even though it had only been a week and a half since he last saw this place. But then again, Zim would gaze upon this house almost every other day of his life. He always walked past it, or went in it. But Zim no longer needed to go in the house- and he couldn’t anyway. 

He remembered Gaz’s warning, and doubted that Membrane would answer the door. He could just leave all the stuff outside, because he really didn’t feel like climbing in through the window. Gaz usually didn’t care, but right now, she would kill him on sight.

The low grumble from above made Zim go on full alert. 

He could ring the doorbell and make a run for it, but the longer he looked at the stuff in his hands, the more he wanted to take a look at stuff himself. He didn’t know why- but Dib’s belongings felt like a rarity now. Before he probably would have tossed his things around and destroyed them for fun. But now, they were all that was left of his enemy. The only things that symbolise he was ever here in this world and did something. Like a mark he left behind. 

The selfish Irken decided to take the things for himself as of now, and quickly made his way back home right on time. After closing the door and taking a few small steps into his dimly lit home, rain started pouring down from the sky. 

He took his disguise off and then sat down on the floor in the middle of the living room. He pushed aside the Irken-tech parts and only focused on what was actually Dib’s. The notebooks, pencil case, the extra shirt, glasses and deodorant. He set the water down as well, but it was obviously just a plain water bottle. 

He skimmed through the history and English notebook, his ruby eyes happy to look upon the messy handwriting of his old friend. And yet- despite how messy it was, Zim could clearly read and understand it. Maybe it was because of all the threat-notes he got during class from Dib, or maybe it was just his translator working precisely. But it was nice to see how passionate Dib seemed about skool than Zim thought he was.  
Even if the handwriting was messy, the letters themselves were kept small and within each line. A few inked arrows here and there, and almost no doodles. Zim only found one doodle of a bird but that was it. 

He set the notebooks down and moved on to the science notebook. He knew there would be some unique drawings in this one. So he opened the first page, and smiled.  
Of course it was a drawing of him on an autopsy table. This one was pretty old, but it made sense since Dib didn’t need a science notebook at any point in Hi Skool. 

Zim continued to look through all the pages at all the different drawings of paranormal creatures and things he saw out the window next to his desk. The drawings gradually got better and better with each couple of pages. These could definitely make some money in Zim’s opinion. He wasn’t too good at drawing himself, but Dib seemed to have gone to another level and developed a hidden talent.  
He found a couple more drawings of himself, most of them were sketches from Dib’s view. Some of them were full body doodles, and he even did a pretty good job drawing of his face. Zim felt his cheeks heat up at the thought of Dib passionately trying to draw his amazing Irken face so accurately. 

The last few drawings however, were a bit concerning. Dib seemed to struggle on certain parts of his doodles, scribbling out a lot of them as if he lost concentration hard way through. His drawings consisted of those boring connected chains and a bunch of the same circles and shapes drawn repeatedly over and over again. It was as if he was having some crisis. All the pages were just the same shapes, scribbles, and he even sketched out curse worlds. Zim wondered if his human was having anxiety or something- He saw Dib make a mess of things in his room before, more so than usual. When Zim questioned it, Dib would just respond with ‘I was stressed’ or some emotion-related response. 

Zim closed the notebook, putting that aside as well. He began rummaging through the human’s pencil case. Curiously pulling out all the half used ghost erasers and blue and black pencils. The pencil case itself was rather worn out, but Dib kept using it anyway.  
The Irken tipped the whole case upside down, then a square piece of paper fell out from the pencil case and onto the floor. He picked it up, wondering if it was some kind of candy wrapper. 

It was still sealed, and seemed to have some kind of ring inside of it. Curious, Zim opened the little square wrapper, surprised to find anything but candy. A rubber thing that Zim had no idea what purpose it served. There was a hard rubber ring at the bottom, and thin rubber around it. Like a ballon!  
He examined it for a few more seconds before getting bored of the thing. He put it down and then picked up the deodorant instead. 

It was of course, black and blue. Made for men, and said ‘Axe’ on it. Zim could already smell the artificial, yet cool-sleek scent around the thing.  
He took the cap off and curiously lifted it up, his antenna moving lower to take a little sniff at it. 

It was too strong for Zim’s likening, but it reminded him of his Dib. The human always put this stuff on before and after gym, and also whenever he finished fighting or chasing Zim. The Irken didn’t know why he did this, since it covered up his original musky-scent. Why would anyone lie about their own scent? Especially when their own scent was so unique- nobody had the same scent, and Dib’s in particular got stronger as the years went by.  
At first, Zim had been so bothered by the scent, thinking it was stinky and absolutely hating it. But later, the stink vanished and was replaced by something more.. alluring. The humans couldn’t seen you smell the same scent, but Zim did. Dib’s scent was always mixed with his own Dib-musk and the faint smell of pine trees and soap. Since the human had showers almost every day- or at least tried to. And him going off into the woods so often made the stench of pine trees stick to him. 

Zim closed the cap and moved on to the next item. The perfectly cut glasses- he experimentally put them over his eyes, cringing when his head hurt due to the blurriness. The human really was blind- Zim would just get new implants than have to rely on this flimsy thing. Why didn’t the human do the same?  
He put the glasses down, and grabbed the last piece of Dib- his baby-blue ghost shirt. It seemed relatively clean as Zim held it up and looked at it from top to bottom. The fabric was soft, and it really seemed like a comfortable shirt to wear. 

Curious, Zim brought it up to his face. He could pick up some of the scent through where his nose would have been if he was a human. It wasn’t as strong as his antenna, so he lowered his antenna to the shirt as well. 

The shirt had Dib’s scent on it. 

Not the silly artificial smell, but the nice smell of the human himself. 

Zim missed this. 

He would see Dib every day of his life, and he could smell his scent everyday just by approaching him. Sometimes the scent would get stronger when they tackled and fought, and those were the times when Zim felt himself struggling to stay focused on fighting the human.  
He felt tears in his eyes as he took in more of the scent. Irken’s may have horrible hearing- thus needing to shout all the time- but they had a great sense of smell and remembering certain scents. This just reminded him of Dib, and how much he missed him. 

The scent of a living, breathing Dib. 

Zim felt the need to treasure it, and keep it for himself. It would be like a token! Or a trophy- a memory of his victory against his best and only enemy! It was like how humans hung the heads of the animals they defeated- except, Zim would never do that. The shirt was enough for him. 

When Gir came running in the room, Zim shoved the shirt into the plastic bag and looked away. Pretending like he was never smelling his enemy’s shirt in the first place. 

“MASTER! I gunna make waffles for dinner!” The robot declared.

“Yes yes, go make dinner!” Zim shooed him away, and the robot happily left towards the kitchen. 

The Irken sighed, feeling like he barely used his voice today. He didn’t even feel like himself anymore. He didn’t even know if he could continue being himself. 

—————————-

The rain didn’t seem to be ending anytime soon, and Zim still very much wanted to go give his enemy better flowers. He had asked Gir to hunt down the bestest of flowers whilst he was at skool. And to his surprise, Gir actually did so! Zim found a batch of different kinds of plucked flowers in a heap in his lab. So he got his raincoat and disguise on, grabbed all of the flowers in one arm, held the umbrella in his free hand and left his home. 

He walked for what felt like forever due to the rain, but eventually got to the graveyard, and got to Dib’s grave. 

“Stupid Earth weather- everything is getting wet- and its too windy!” Zim said as he put the flowers down on top of the dirt patch in front of the gravestone. Thankfully, there were thick trees around to block the winds- but Zim still worried. So, he scavenged the area for rocks and pebbles, searching for the perfect ones with round smooth surfaces. After a few minutes he came back and put all of them on top of the flower stems with precision. “There! Now you won’t loose your flowers.. silly.” He sighed. 

The Irken stared at the grave for a while, imagining that Dib was there- because then, he would have at least someone to talk to that could understand him. 

“I can’t believe you made the great Zim do so much work today! Do you know how many of those pathetic humans looked at me?! And these group of human females talked to me- and were pitying me! How dare they!” Zim rolled his eyes. “Then I had to go get your stuff from your desk and locker! You are lucky the great Zim was smart enough to figure out and remember your passcode!” He shouted to a grave. 

“But I have decided that I am going to keep your things! Ha! You should have taken them home yourself- because now they are all Zim’s!” The alien forced a smile, but was greeted by nothing but silence. He missed that voice- his human’s voice that would always snap something back like ‘I’ll get back at you Zim!’ Or some kind of threat or insult. 

“..That is.. all that happened today.” Zim frowned. “You know, skool was very different without you..” He admitted in such a small voice, looking down at his boots. “I hope the flowers I gave you today are more.. adequate. Gir found them for me, and I think your gravesite looks better thanks to Zim!” He stepped closer, eyeing the stone and hating how everything was getting so wet. 

The flowers were already soaked, and the gravestone was covered in rain droplets. 

He started to get a bit upset about that.

“..Fine.” Zim put the hood of his raincoat up before hanging his pink umbrella over the gravestone. He then used his gloved hand to wipe away some of the rain on the stone- hissing when some of the droplets made it past his gloves. 

“Burns!” He took a step back, only now realising that the raincoat wasn’t as effective as the umbrella.

“Don’t loose my umbrella Dib! I shall come back tomorrow to retrieve it!” Zim said whilst pointing a finger. “I expect a thank you tomorrow!” He added before hurrying his way home. Going under trees and trying to cover his face as he did so. 

—————————

Zim went to skool the next day, and nothing changed. People still glared at him, and nobody talked to him this time. They all left him alone- which was great, and not great at the same time. 

But it mattered not. Skool only lasted six or so hours, and as soon as it was done, Zim wanted to head out and go get his umbrella back- because it was now sunny and hot again, but who knows when it would rain next. 

“Zim.” 

The Irken froze as he was about to leave the classroom. The only other being in the room was the teacher, and her voice didn’t sound as happy as it normally did. 

“I um, was informed that neither Dib or Gaz’s belongings were delivered to their home yesterday.”

“Uh..Yes! Um-“ The Irken panicked a he turned around. “It was raining.. horribly yesterday. And I didn’t want the things to get so wet..” He stuttered a little, feeling nervous. 

“Oh- right! Well, I hope you can deliver them today then.” She smiled. “Take it easy, ok?” 

“Zim will.” He said before leaving the room to go to Gaz’s homeroom. He couldn’t believe he forgot about her belongings- but he didn’t really care about her things anyway. They held no value to him, and the only reason he would be treating them with value was because he would die if he didn’t. Maybe he would die by the hands of her anyway.. 

He quickly collected her stuff- she only had two notebooks in her desk and a pencil case. She didn’t have anything in her locker, and Zim remembered Dib used to tell him that Gaz didn’t trust leaving things at skool anymore due to some of her games being stolen. Of course she found the culprit and gave them hell, but ever since, she never leaves anything valuable at skool.

Zim went home in silence, wanting to get this over with. He grabbed Dib’s notebooks, water-bottle, glasses, pencil case and deodorant. He stuffed everything in the plastic bag he used yesterday- since he had dumped out all the Irken tech scraps in his lab. 

He was however, keeping the shirt. It was neatly folded and resting in Zim’s ‘bedroom’ where he normally went to brain storm ideas or just roll around. He used the couch most of the time since it was conveniently in front of the T.V and closer to the kitchen. But the bedroom in the underground labs was a place that Zim considered to be a private and more.. relaxing place. Safe from Gir for sure. 

Once Zim had all the stuff in the bag, he left. He needed to do this quick, so that he could go and get his umbrella! 

He got to the Membrane household pretty quickly- Gaz would most likely answer the door, and she would kill him even if he had brought her her stuff and her brother’s stuff.  
Zim prepared to run as he walked up the small path and pressed the door bell. He set all the stuff down in front of the door, and turned around. He bolted- or at least tried to, but the door opened far too quickly. 

“What the fuck are you doing here.” Gaz grumbled, stepping towards Zim. 

“Who was it?” Membrane’s voice was heard from further in the house. 

“Nobody.” Gaz replied, which made Membrane walk over to see who it was. 

Zim was practically still frozen in fear as he stood. 

“Oh it’s Dib’s best friend! Uhh.. Zim, was it?” The professor asked.

“Ehh.. yes.” The Irken nervously looked away. “I brought the requested stuff from skool..” 

Membrane picked up the bags, looking in them both. “Thank you Zim. It’s nice to see that Dib had such a wonderful friend like you.” He smiled behind the white collar of his lab coat. 

Gaz stayed silent. She was smart enough to know that saying Zim was the killer was just going to make her father think she’s crazy or is being rude. But honestly, Gaz didn’t care about the second one. 

“Zim, would you perhaps like to come over for dinner tomorrow? I have a few days off from work due to recent events, and.. you were very close to Dib. Probably closer than I was.” Membrane admitted, since it was definitely true. 

“..oh.. eh-“ Zim started to get more nervous, but at the same time, dinner sounded nice. And it was something Zim couldn’t say no to- especially when it was coming from Membrane. His enemy’s parent- who also now happens to be the smartest human in the world.  
“..Sure.” He uneasily smiled, not wanting to get on the professor’s bad side. Because it was far too late for him to get out of Gaz’s bad side. 

“Excellent! Any restrictions food wise?” The tall human asked. 

“Well, I can’t eat meat or drink dirty water.” Zim said as he tried to ignore Gaz’s death glare. 

“I’ll keep that in mind!” Membrane waved. “We shall see you tomorrow then! Around 6!” He said happily, and Zim couldn’t believe he just signed himself up for an hour or more of awkwardness. 

But then again, the Membrane family was one of the few things he had left of Dib. 

——————————-

When Zim got to the gravesite, he was pleased to see that his pink umbrella was still there. As well as all the flowers too. He walked up to the gravestone, taking the wet, pink umbrella. He shook off the droplets away from the grave before wrapping the little band around it to close it. 

“Thank Irk you didn’t destroy this- I don’t have another one!” Zim chuckled, putting the umbrella to his side. 

“I see my plan of using these Earth rocks also worked! But I guess they are no longer needed.” He said as he crouched down and began taking all the stones off of the flower stems. 

“Apparently I am now going to have dinner with your... family.” He said as he continued to collect the rocks and neatly line them up around the grave just for fun. 

“Invader’s don’t have dinner with their enemy’s family. But yet I accepted the challenge! So if there is anything you want to tell me now- now is the only chance! Because the dinner is tomorrow!” Zim raised his voice a little, looking at the grave as if something would change. 

But alas, nothing did. Just like the day before. And the other days Zim visited here. 

“Dib-ghost... Can you say something?.....please?” He said in a small voice, finishing setting up the stones in a circle around his grave. 

He sighed, his eyes suddenly seeming droopy and saddened. He looked around the place, and started to hate how quiet it was despite Dib’s ‘presence’. 

“Ok fine Dib! I guess I miss you!” Zim stood you straight, finally letting tears forming in his eyes. “I miss you. A.. Alot actually!” He couldn’t control his tears anymore. “And I am sorry! So please let this all be a joke! You can’t actually be gone- that’s...that's not allowed! Y..You are my enemy!” He sniffed, crying out as his throat felt tight. 

He took a few steps away from the grave, rubbing his eyes in a hurry with the sleeve of his arm. “Invader’s aren’t one to beg- but you know what?! I quit being an invader! So.. so please.. come back.. Zim is...Zim is nothing without you.” He mumbled, knowing very well that nothing was going to happen. 

So he turned his sadness in to anger after a few moments of silence, because what else could he possibly do?

“Fine! Be that way, Dib-ghost! You won’t be getting any flowers from the great Zim anymore!” He angrily shouted before stomping his way out of the gravesite, eyes still filled with tears.


End file.
